Blockchain technology has emerged as a transformative solution to address specific aspects of emergency management systems by providing a decentralized and distributed ledger infrastructure that enhances data immutability, transparency, and traceability. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of blockchain applications in emergency management covering the period from 2017 to 2024 and based on 248 research articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. The analysis examines collaboration networks, co-citation patterns, citation bursts, and keyword trends to uncover key research clusters and emerging themes. Seven major clusters were identified, with their intellectual core built around influential publications that highlight blockchain’s role in improving transparency, efficiency, and trust in emergency response systems. The findings emphasize the growing impact of blockchain technology in enhancing preparedness and resilience during crises while identifying gaps in global collaboration and interdisciplinary innovation.

The problem of nonlinear substitution generation (S-boxes) is investigated in many related works in symmetric key cryptography. In particular, the strength of symmetric ciphers to linear cryptanalysis is directly related to the nonlinearity of substitution. In addition to being highly nonlinear, S-boxes must be random, i.e., must not contain hidden mathematical constructs that facilitate algebraic cryptanalysis. The generation of such substitutions is a complex combinatorial optimization problem. Probabilistic algorithms are used to solve it, for instance the simulated annealing algorithm, which is well-fitted to a discrete search space. We propose a new cost function based on Walsh–Hadamard spectrum computation, and investigate the search efficiency of S-boxes using a simulated annealing algorithm. For this purpose, we conduct numerous experiments with different input parameters: initial temperature, cooling coefficient, number of internal and external loops. As the results of the research show, applying the new cost function allows for the rapid generation of nonlinear substitutions. To find 8-bit bijective S-boxes with nonlinearity 104, we need about 83,000 iterations. At the same time, the probability of finding the target result is 100%.

The growing popularity of data outsourcing to third-party cloud servers has a downside, related to the serious concerns of data owners about their security due to possible leakage. The desire to reduce the risk of loss of data confidentiality has become a motivating start to developing mechanisms that provide the ability to effectively use encryption to protect data. However, the use of traditional encryption methods faces a problem. Namely, traditional encryption, by making it impossible for insiders and outsiders to access data without knowing the keys, excludes the possibility of searching. This paper presents a solution that provides a strong level of confidentiality when searching, inserting, modifying, and deleting the required sensitive data in a remote database whose data are encrypted. The proposed SQL query processing technique allows the DBMS server to perform search functions over encrypted data in the same way as in an unencrypted database. This is achieved through the organization of automatic decryption by specially developed secure software of the corresponding data required for search, without the possibility of viewing these data itself. At that, we guarantee the integrity of the stored procedures used and special tables that store encrypted modules of special software and decryption keys, the relevance and completeness of the results returned to the application. The results of the analysis of the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed solution show that the proper privacy of the stored data can be achieved at a reasonable overhead.

The article presents an approach to prioritizing security controls for CI/CD process. While this process enhances development speed and flexibility, it also increases the attack surface and introduces risks to software supply chains. The proposed approach integrates STRIDE threat modeling, NIST SSDF practices, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to support structured decision-making. Security controls have been first identified and adapted to CI/CD environments, after which potential threats have been analyzed using STRIDE. Finally, AHP has been applied to prioritize controls based on the severity and impact of threats.

A viability and a rationale for implementation of digital twins with augmented reality interface for further development of the smart manufacturing ecosystem is discussed. Different aspects of the problem of design and implementation of digital twins for industrial applications are considered. An approach for constructing the secure-by-design augmented reality-enhanced interfaces for digital twins is proposed. Benefits and cautions for use of augmented reality-enhanced digital twins in Industry 4.0 and prospects for Industry 5.0 are discussed.